On one's own term
by Izzu
Summary: 48-based. Ankh-centric. He started it all... so he should be the one to end it. On his own terms.


az: Because my Ankh would not allow me to be sad when writing the next few sets, have a (kinda) cheerful one-shot. Because I had certain ideas about how to approach certain scenes, I would be tackling this into several parts.

As usual, reviews are appreciated.

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><p><span>On one's own term<span>

Written by Izzu

o

o

Was it because of pride? He was the one who started it... again, after all. Last time... eight hundred years ago, it had been a very short stint. The five of them have been created and they fled to a refuge they called their own. For a brief period they have been doing things the way they liked, before he started questioning himself and flew away to find his own place in this world. Somehow during his travels he stumbled back towards his past. The previous OOO. The people that had brought upon the creation of their being.

The alliance had been brief. Neither ambition have been fulfilled. Thus after he had awaken after so long a time, he did the next thing that came to mind. Unseal all of them once again. He took the seal—the OOO driver—with him, in case he could find himself a use for it. And then, he found Eiji.

What strange coincidence for him to be able to meet Eiji like this. What coincidence for the human he was using the body at the moment, being one of the humans investigating the case _he himself_ had started. And what coincidence, for them to meet Hina...

He had started all of this, thus it should be logical that _he_ was the one to end it. End it on his own terms. Not Eiji's, not Maki's... and not even Kougami's.

It should not be hard to look for where Eiji was at this moment, it should not be so hard. Ankh spreaded his wings apart before he felt someone grab his hand. He turned to see Hina scowling at him.

"I'm going with you!"

Ankh blinked at her in surprise. What on earth—suddenly he thought he saw the detective brother of hers as well, standing beside her as well... nodding to him. But that was not right, he was using the body at the moment. He cannot be seeing—Ankh shook his head as he tried to shake off the fatigueness of his body.

"All right."

Hina stared at him in surprise as Ankh just rolled his eyes. He took her on his arms before turning to her.

"Hold me tight, but not _too_ tight. In my condition right now I'm not sure I could properly fly without any mishaps."

Hina nodded as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Ankh felt his chest tightened as he could feel how Hina was trying her best to control her own strength.

This was the first time he had ever taken Hina flying, this would also be the last time...

Collecting his resolve, Ankh gave his wings another shake before taking off.

xxx

Ankh put Hina down gently as he turned around to see the battle from a distance. It seemed Eiji was using the Tatoba combo. But all of the cores he knew had been with—Kougami! Could Kougami been hiding the King's core all this time? The original cores used by the previous OOO, his fourth hawk medal, Kazari's tiger medal... Uva's hopper medal—

"You stay over here, it might get dangerous," said Ankh as he turned towards Hina.

"You be careful too, Ankh..."

Ankh smiled to Hina weakly before taking off again.

He glanced towards the area in front of Kougami Foundation as he watched OOO delivered a powerful Tatoba kick on Uva. That seemed to be doing the job—how did Eiji become so strong—before Maki interfered and _saved_ Uva. He frowned as Ankh increased his speed to reach the place sooner.

He was so sure he saw Maki threw a bunch of cores into Uva, including one of his. And there was another... and another batch! That Maki!

He could care less about Uva right now. Not like any sense could get into that bug head of his but right now...

Maki threw a purple blast towards Eiji as Ankh countered with his own fireball. He dropped in casually as he continued to watch Maki warily.

"Changing sides again? Are you going to help OOO again this time?"

Ankh smirked. His reasoning was more than that. Not like he would reveal it so easily. Ankh turned his head sideways as he caught sight of Uva fleeing for his _life_. Maki followed after him soon after. He paused as he thought he heard Uva crying for help. Well... good luck to him.

Eiji started asking him the reason why he had returned. Ankh ignored it as he looked down on his hand. No point on asking for pointless things. The only thing he could do now, was to savour the last remaning time of his _living_. Ankh held out his hand towards Eiji.

"I'm here to collect a debt on today, give me some ice!"

He grinned as he saw that Eiji was taken by surprise. Same as with Date and Gotou. Well, that was what it should be after all. There was no need for sentimentalities after all.

Suddenly those three cores started acting up, and the three king cores shattered. Ankh frowned at it. So even if Eiji did not attacked them directly, the cores would still shatter if there was enough power applied to it?

"You... you did something stupid again, did you?"

xxx

Ankh looked up as the out-of-control vessel started to cause chaos.

"—you got to hand it to him, he also brought in _extras..._"

This situation was so Uva, considering how Uva likes to use these trash yummies. It was annoying but it was not like he had a say on it. Those _double _Births dropped in to their aid as Ankh and Eiji went straight towards Maki. The fight on air was brief before the three of them crashed unto the grounds below. They resumed their fight there but Ankh knew compared to the two of them, _he_ was the most disadvantaged. It should not be hard to guess who was the weaker one of the three at the moment...

xxx

There were so many cell medals, he could not believe that Eiji had planned for this so far ahead. Yet... it was not enough to defeat Maki. And then, Eiji started to want to do something reckless again...

Ankh looked down again towards his right arm. It was true Putotyra was the most powerful combo OOO have at the moment, but a Greeed's full power depended on _all_ of its _core medals_. Putotyra by itself would not be able to unleash that power. The only one that could unleash it...

Ankh threw another fireball towards Eiji to stop him. He took out his only remaining cores ready as he shouted.

"Eiji, stop that! Use these instead!"

He threw the two cores first before taking a long breath. He willed himself to throw himself—his last core—towards Eiji. The last time he would ever do this for him. The last time he would be able to pass these cores to him...

xxx

"_I understand. If this... was what you wanted to do, I guess it was what you really wanted to do."_

Of course... idiot. Why else would he have done this? Did he not always give him the most suitable combo OOO needed in a fight? Since right now, the only combo that could unleash the full powers of those purple cores Eiji still have... was Tajadol. _His_ combo. Eiji would have no choice but to use this combo. Even if he finally found out about _the crack_, there was no way he could be able to do anything else but fight.

"TAKA! KUJAKU! KONDORU!" Ankh shouted as Tajadol form was activated.

OOO Tajadol dashed towards Maki as Eiji threw a few punches towards him. Ankh smiled as he jumped out suddenly to attack Maki. He could hear Eiji gasp behind as he turned around. Ankh smiled.

_This was so fun!_

He had always dreamed to be able to fight like this, being a part of OOO. There was a sense of excitement over there...

He gave another round of this kind of fight, before Maki took to the sky. They entered the giant medal vessel before Ankh finally let himself out again. Eiji called out towards him again but he did not bother replying. Finally his moment.

Ankh look up towards Maki at the center of the space inside the vessel. He closed his right palm to test his own strength. Yes, he started all of this from the very beginning. Now he should be the one to close the curtain to this battle.

Ankh focused his remaining strength before throwing out his last fireball towards Maki...


End file.
